Windows Live Hotmail

Microsoft also made some updates and changes to its Windows Live suite of tools in 2010--including the Hotmail Web-based e-mail service. Microsoft has been making a stronger push to embrace the cloud--both for consumers and business customers, and the changes for Hotmail add features for working with social networking updates, photos, and video content, among other things.

A Bloomberg.com news story on the changes to Hotmail. "They're taking it more seriously and really trying to make it competitive," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Washington.

There are many other Microsoft milestones for 2010. Microsoft set a when it comes to its monthly Patch Tuesday security bulletin releases, and it also got back into the smartphone business with the launch of Windows Phone 7 this Fall. It will be interesting to see, as we enter 2011, how--or if--Microsoft can adapt and compete in the mobile market with .